BubbleWheel: A thank you to everyone for reviewing. Oh and I'm sorry to MaiValentine-san but I can't put more Mai in my story. Gomen. And Yugioh just isn't yugioh without the Yugi gang so of course their going to be the story. Well Enjoy!

Yoroshiku

Chapter 4: My, my, she got herself a fever.

It had been two months since the last time Kagura had seen Alister. She had many attempts to make contact with him, but every time she called his cell phone, there was the recorded message that he was not available. She wanted to ask if he would ever be available but the recording wasn't very cooperative. He didn't come to her shop any more in the morning, either. Over this time Kagura became very worried about him at least she worried that he would go hungry.

It was a crisp autumn afternoon in downtown Domino. The leaves turned the trees a gorgeous hue of colours: browns, yellows, oranges, and reds. Kagura was walking out of a big brown building with two people next to her. Her head was down, her long white hair falling down in front of her face as if protecting her from everyone from the outside world. Her was mind wondering. One of the people walking next to her was a boy with long bleach blonde hair and violet eyes. Beneath his eyes were strange marks similar to lightening bolts. His skin was a dark brown. He was wearing dark violet jacket over top of his black long sleeved shirt. His pants were charcoal black pants.

"And that is how simple French can be, Marik." said a younger looking girl. Well younger looking than Marik and Kagura. She had ebony black hair with sparkling green eyes and her skin was a little bit on the tanned side. She was wearing a navy blue turtle neck with blue jeans holding on a little bit below the waist and white, 1 inch platform shoes. Over top a beige jacket covered her entirely.

"I see. So you learned this all from Noah, Joy?" Marik replied raising an eyebrow.

"Basically, well my brother gave me a few pointers too. Oh and there's Stephanie the French wiz!" she smiled sweetly with a little excitement rising in her voice.

As the two continued on with their conversation, they failed noticed two things. One was their friend, looking very depressed and the other being a yellow motorcycle that was parked at the front of the building. Kagura did notice. Once she had lifted her gaze off the ground to see where she was going. She had a puzzled look on her face. The bike looked very alone on the street. She wondered who it may belong to. Did it look familiar?

"Kagura! I've been looking for you all over! Where have you been!" called a memorable voice. The person that the voice belonged to had snuck up behind Kagura gripping her shoulders.

Kagura turned her head to notice it was Valon behind her. "Valon, long time no see!" she called turning around fully, rapping her arms around his waist and giving him a big hug.

A blush of pink had crossed Valon's face. "Yes, it has been along time. You keepn' up in your studies?" he asked.

"Of course I am what do you take me for?" she glared.

Then she looked over at her two other friends. They were both a little bit shocked to she Kagura talking to someone who had just appeared out of the blue. Joy looked blankly at Valon. It seemed she wanted to say something but couldn't.

"What's the matter, Joy? Happy to see me?" he inquired, turning his head to face Joy and finally releasing his grip on Kagura's shoulders, breaking the hug and dropping his arms to his side.

"No, just I little surprised." she replied folding her arms over her chest.

"Awww, that's not nice, ya should have at least lied about being happy." the Aussie smirked.

All Joy could think of was to expose her tongue out at him. She turned to Marik assured him that everything would be explained soon. He nodded. Then she turned back to face Valon. "So why are you here?" Joy demanded.

"Ah, good question! I came to ask Kagura something." he turned his head back to Kagura and his eyes looked straight into hers. His hands moved to Kagura's face tightly holding on to it. He brought his face in a little. She started to blush a vivid red. "I'm not going to kiss ya, relax I want to ask you if you have a thing for Alister?" he chuckled.

"What? Why?" she was even more embarrassed and confused than before. She didn't know how to answer Valon's question. Did she have a thing for Alister? She had never really asked herself that question before. Well maybe it was because she didn't know him very well. "Talking about Alister, do you know where he might be?" she tossed right back at him.

Valon gave a sigh and rolled his eyes. "Alright don't answer my question right away. No, I don't know where he's been. Haven't seen him since the time he said he was going to defeat Kaiba once and for all.

"Hey, what do ya think ya doing, punk!" yelled what seemed like a boy with a New York accent. The sound came directly from behind Valon and traveled loudly straight to his ear. The boy gave Valon quite a start. Valon turned his head to see who it was. It was none other than Joey Wheeler, the stupid blonde duelist. He had his little tri-haired friend, Yugi, trailing behind him.

Joey was a little surprised to see Valon there. He hadn't been seen by Joey since their last duel, which by the way ended Valon's defeat. "What are you doing here? And what happened to all ya little buddies?" Joey asked with a sneer.

"I came here to ask Kagura something and since I have asked her that something, I'll be on my way now.Oh for my mates, well, Raphael is in the city and for Alister I rather not say anything about him."

"Why not? He dead or something?" Joey asked.

Valon just turned his head and looking down at the ground with a neutral expression on his face. Not wanting to look at Kagura or Joey. Kagura went into shock as she looked around. Joy dropped her head. Marik looked utterly confused and Joey's friend Yugi wasn't even paying attention. "He's dead!" screamed Kagura. "He died and you didn't tell me! What kind of friends' are you." she started to sob, tears starting to form in her blue eyes.

"Don't cry Kagura." Valon said raising his head up with a rather sympathetic expression on his face and moved one his hands close to Kagura's face to wipe away the tears beginning to fall but his hand got pushed away and the hand that pushed his away continued to slap him across the face.

"You didn't need to lie to me. I would have accepted his death after awhile. But no you had to lie and say you don't know were he is." Kagura mocked. "I don't know why I care so much. I've only seen him twice, but for some reason I keep telling myself not to let him slip by me again."

Valon was rubbing his cheek, now in a rage. "I DIDN'T LIE TO YA, OKAY! I DON'T KNOW WHERE HE IS! HE COULD BE DEAD, BUT I DOUBT IT! I TOLD YOU THE LAST TIME I SAW HIM AND I WAS BEING HONEST! WHEELER'S THE ONE SPOUTING OFF THAT ALISTER'S DEAD!" Valon yelled at the top of his lungs.

Kagura stood there in complete silence. She was extremely stunned by Valon's outburst. Her legs had wobbled a bit by the sheer volume of his voice and then they gave out on her. Joy had run straight to where her friend had collapsed, a friend who really needed her comfort at a time like this.

"Wow! I never knew it was such a touchy subject for her. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make anyone feel bad." Joey said rubbing the back of his head with guilt.

"It's true, you are a bubbling idiot." Valon said still enraged; then he started to walk over to his motorcycle, then soon returning to where they were all standing with his old duel disk strapped to his arm. "I've got a score to settle with you. Maybe that will keep your mouth shut once and for all. You are almost unforgivable Wheeler. So how about we duel and if I win you do not open your mouth for a week to even it?" he said.

"Why not." shrugged Joey taking a Kaiba Corp. duel disk out of his bag and strapping it to his arm.

He seemed to be at a loss for words, finally. They both called let's duel simultaneously, and thus started another eventful battle.

"How about I start this contest off by summoning Psychic Armor Head in attack mode; then end my turn." Valon said.

"Wait a second he just play a monster with 0 attack points!" Marik and Yugi exclaimed.

"Don't worry guys; I know what he's up to. So don't worry." Joey said making a three quarter turn and giving them the thumbs up. "I summon Baby Dragon in attack mode and put a card face down. Now Baby Dragon attack Psychic Armor Head! " Baby Dragon obliterated Psychic Armor Head. Then it was back as quickly as it was destroyed.

"Hey, Joey just sent that card to the grave yard! Why is it on the field?" Yugi cried.

Valon started to chuckle. "Not the brightest in the bunch are ya. Well, it has a special ability, every time it's sent to the graveyard it comes back. Now before I make my next move Wheeler, I want to ask you, what happened to all your little buddies? Because the last time I saw you, you had more." he sneered back.

"I still have all those friends, their just studying different things in different places. Like Tristan he went somewhere in North America to study psychology, while Tea went to New York to study dance, and …" Joey was cut off by Valon.

"I don't tell me what happened to that 'Duke' kid cause I already know." he said with a satisfied grin on his face. Joy looked at Valon with a gaze that said, 'call-my-brother-a-kid-once-more-and-it-will-your-last-thing-you-call-anyone' "Now on with the duel; I activate the magic card, Armor Gravitation, for the people that don't know what this does it allows me to summon any armor monster lower than level 4. So that means I can summon Trap Buster Armor, Big Bad Blow, Over Boost and Active Guard. Of course all of these monsters have 0 attack points."

The suit of armor attached itself to Valon's body tightly he was a sea of blue and white. Trap Buster and Big Bad Blow attaching to his arms. Over Boost attached to his legs, Active Guard attached to his body and finally Psychic Armour Head completed the transformation. Everyone except Valon, Joey and Joy had stunned expressions on their faces by what the cards just did. "He just morphed with the cards." Marik stuttered.

"Just don't hit him too hard 'kay, Valon?" Joy called folding her arms across her chest; looking at him with a sly smile on her face.

Moving his armored arm up to give Joy a thumbs up Valon said, "Course, don't want to be responsible destroying any public property." Joy continued to smile slyly nodding her head. Once the okay signal was given, Valon leapt from the ground and flew straight for Joey and his Baby Dragon. Kagura had an expression of terror on her face, like she was about to watch someone die.

"Oh, and Wheeler, don't even try to spring a trap card on me. Cause just to let you know now, they don't have any effect. This suit of armor is invincible." Valon instructed as he began fly at Joey and punch him in the stomach, with Big Bad Blow, that in turn sent Joey flying right into the air and landing with what sounded like 'thud'.

"That hard enough, Joy?" Valon said landing on his feet and much softer than Joey did. Joy nodded at Valon. "After that blow I end my turn, Wheeler. So go!"

Between the two of them it was an agonizing one blow right after another. Joey was able to summon a protective red and white suit of armor of his own so (that the playing field was now even). As Kagura watched horrified the two beat each other almost senseless. She had never seen anything so reckless in a very long time.

The battle raged on. Each boy was down to his last one thousand life and both were having trouble standing up on two feet in this case maybe four feet. Valon had a couple pieces of his armor missing while Joey had his suit still intact. Valon was about to make his next move when he heard a scream from where their 'spectators' were standing.

"Kagura! Kagura! Are you alright!" Joy screamed with the sound of fear in her tone.

Valon and Joey suddenly awoke from their intense duel with each other. Valon forgot his combat with Joey and rushed over to see what was wrong with Kagura. What remained of his armour vanished as he ran towards the crowd. Kagura had still been on the ground from the time her legs had let out on her. Joy had her wrapped in her arms around Kagura. Valon knelt down see Joy holding Kagura in her arms. Kagura's face was beet red and she was gasping for every breath she can capture. Valon parted Kagura's white bangs to touch her forehead. He placed his palm on her and smiled.

"The young lady went and got herself a fever." Valon comforted with a smile.

"And I have a good idea why… STRESS!" Joy stared up at Valon, sounding upset. "Mid-term exams are coming up in a month and she's really worried about how she'll do. Then there's Alister who hasn't even bothered to talk to her in two months and finally, finally, you two! You two start a duel and bash each others brains out. Possibly worrying her to death that one of you would get horribly injured." Her voice rouse higher with her anger.

"If I said she worries too much, would that help?" he asked not really expecting an answer. Joy just returned him a very nasty look. "Just between you and me, DOOM's main headquarters is just around the corner. Raphael and myself still live in the building so we could take care of her until she's betta, what do ya say?" Valon whispered to Joy.

Kagura's eye lids flickered opening slowly so that the sight of her blue eyes brought relief to everyone. It had appeared she had heard what Valon had said to Joy but not understanding the part about still living in the building. Was it ever their home? "Really Valon, I can stay with you until I'm better?" she asked weakly but excitedly.

"Course, I'll even take you there now on my motorcycle." Valon said rising from his knees and offering his hand to help Kagura off the ground. Kagura put her hand in his and he lifted her up. He informed Joey that their duel will have to be postponed. That Kagura will need some immediate attention but she will be just fine. He walked her over to his bike, and helped her up onto the soft leather passenger seat. "I don't have a second helmet Kagura, so your gonna have to use mine. No argument. Is that okay with you?" he let her know. She nodded. "Don't forget to hold on tight."

Valon then got himself on the bike and started the engine. In no time he was riding down the street. He was hoping to luck out not to have any police around to catch him not wearing his helmet they might not understand his Prince Charming act. A few minutes went by when he asked, "You alright back there?" She answered simply, "Alright." It only took him 10 minutes to get to his building from where all this began. He parked right outside the door so it would be a shorter walk for Kagura.

"I can't tell you how much I appreciate this, Valon." she said taking her hand in his again as he helped her off the bike.

"It's no biggie." he tried to brush it off while opening the door for her.

Inside Kagura saw that the building was dark and appeared lifeless. All the walls and doors were the same silvery grey colour so when all the doors were closed you could not tell whether they even existed. What hid behind each one was a mystery to the uninformed. In the distance, at very end of the long hallway was a door. What was different about this door was that it appeared that natural light was streaming right through it. The light seemed to be the only sign of life so far but what its source would remain a mystery because Valon hurried beyond.

"Follow me. The faster we get you to the room the quicker you can get rest and get better. It's not that I don't want you here. You just have your whole life ahead of you. You wouldn't want to spend most of it here." Valon said continued to walk down the long hall almost as if she were not there. Though he did walk slow enough that he could keep an eye on her.

As Kagura followed him down the hall, she noticed that each hallway they passed through looked like the last. They came upon a carpeted stair case leading up. Finally Valon seemed to have reached his destination. The sight of the stairs made Kagura feel warm knowing there was a human touch to this isolated place. Valon began to walk up the stairs, turning around to assure Kagura that it was okay, the bedrooms are up here and she would soon be able to rest. It had lead to yet another floor. This one comfortably carpeted with a series of doors except these ones were made of dark natural wood and were polished bright. Once the two of them reached the top of the Valon turned to his left along the hallway and soon passed an open door.

"Valon !" called a booming voice from the room with the open door. Valon jumped a foot or two in the air.

"Ah, Raphael, Don't scare me like that." Valon said cheerfully talking to the man that was leaning against the open door frame. Raphael was in good physical shape. He seemed older in appearance to Valon but how much older was difficult to tell. He had blonde hair cut short at the back but spiked on top as if someone started a campfire flame ablaze. His eyes may have been blue but he squinted so much it was a difficult to tell. He was wearing a charcoal black tank top, which showed off what were obviously well defined muscles, and slender black pants an outfit he must have favoured because he seemed to wear it a great deal and wore it well.

"What girl have you brought home this time?" Raphael asked annoyed.

"Hey, she's not like Mai. So don't go treating her like trash. She was the girl that made your coffee in the morning when DOOM was still around." Valon said in a perturbed tone. "And right now she's got herself a fever so I told her she can stay here 'till she's better."

"This is the girl that you talked so much about, a scrawny white haired girl?" a hint of anger in his voice. Raphael wasn't pleased about having another girl stay at their home, but in his heart he couldn't say no to her if she was sick. "You know what, fine, she can stay, but only until she's better. Then she has to go." Raphael told Valon. Valon respond with an enthusiastic nod and a wide grin.

"Come one Kagura, the room you can stay in is not too far from here." he said grabbing her hand.

Kagura's room was only a couple doors down from Raphael's room. Kagura's only worry was where Valon might be while she was resting. 'Would he be near by if I need him or would he even be in the building? Will I have to be alone worrying about what 'Mr. Grumpy', would be up to the entire time?'

The bedroom Valon had lead Kagura was extremely elegant. It was fit for a princess, though at this moment she did not look much like royalty. As she entered, to her left of this grand room, was a lovely four poster, canopy bed. It was fit more for a king than a princess. What ever furniture was in the room seemed big and oversized as if everything was filled with air and feathers. Light streamed through a giant window, on the opposite wall from where she came in, it was guarded by thick velour cream coloured drapes on either side. From the wall facing the bed Kagura saw an opened door which she could see appeared to be a private washroom. No matter how elegant the room was there were only two things that Kagura realized. One was a strange musty smell to it and the second being that the little furniture that was in the room had signs that it had not seen a good cleaning in awhile.

"Oh gosh, it's as if someone forgot this room existed. Anyone hear about dusting and the smell … wow!" exclaimed Kagura. "I'll open the window a bit. You can get into bed and lay down now. What you need now is rest ", Valon said comfortingly and he walked over to the window and opened it letting in a fresh calming breeze. Kagura sighed and did what she was told and pulled back the comforter that she discovered was silk. She removed the sweatshirt she wore most of the day deciding it would be probably be too hot if she rested with it under the covers.

"You comfy?" Valon asked sitting on the edge of the bed. "Sorry about the condition room it hasn't been used in a while. If there's anything you may need just shout, I'm down the hall to the right." Kagura nodded and said, "I really appreciate everything you've done so far, for me. And I'm sorry about slapping you earlier. I didn't mean it, I was just angry." she tugged on the arm of his black long sleeve shirt. "Don't sweat it. I'll be fine, now get some rest." he said trying to get up and leave. "One last thing, before you leave, when you were talking to Raphael you said something about a girl named Mai. Who was she? Why were you saying that I'm not like her at all?" Kagura asked curiously.

Valon paused for a few moments. He had no idea how to answer that question. "Mai … she … let's just say that she wasn't very polite and … she … well no one really liked her but … well … me."

He got up of the bed and walked through the doorway, moping. Kagura didn't mean to make him sad she was just curious.

Soon after that she shut her eyes. A wave of warm air flew by her cheek. Her eyes shot open. She sat up and searched the room with her eyes staring deeply in the dark, no one was there. Yet she felt that something had slightly touched her. She then remembered the window had been open because of the smell. Kagura got herself out of the bed and closed it. She got right back in and made herself comfortable again. This time sleep came as soon as her head hit the pillow.

In her dream she saw a pair of mis-matched eyes, one yellow the other aqua, floating in a sea of black. Along with them she heard a calm but sinister voice saying "Hello my child."

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BubbleWheel: Wow! That was a long chapter. First time I've ever written something that was 8 pages long before. Sorry it took so long to update. I wrote the chapter, 2 weeks after I wrote number 3, but I had to look at it and I've been busy so… I'm sorry. Thanks for reading and remember to review.